


Maiden Flight

by Northland



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Genre: Charter Magic, Extra Treat, Gen, Trick or Treat: Treat, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-06 02:54:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21219392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northland/pseuds/Northland
Summary: A Clayr Mage brings a new Paperwing to life.





	Maiden Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Isis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isis/gifts).

Ralleth drew in a deep breath. The acrid scent of the glue lacquering together the layers of paper over the light wooden frame bit into her nose; it wasn’t exactly pleasant, and whenever they constructed a new Paperwing the Clayr Flight were always careful to do it outside the hangar, on the open terrace where the wind and fresh air could carry the fumes away. But to her the scent meant flight, and freedom.

The newest Paperwing—the first she’d designed and built on her own, or at least as the chief of the crew of Charter Mages working on it—gleamed in the sunshine. Its long slender body was painted Clayr green with silver stars, spirals and wavy lines along its sides mimicking the currents that would flow along it when it was in the air. She ran her gloved hands over it one last time, checking each brace and testing every joint: all were true. 

A brief tremor of foresight ran through her as she slid her hand over the smooth side, stiff with glue. She saw a Daughter of the Clayr piloting the craft, sailing high over the Greenwash Bridge, pursued by Gore crows. Whether it was a year from now, or a hundred, she could not tell; but she knew her work would hold. “Carry her safe,” she murmured. 

Only the final step remained. Ralleth took a little can of white paint out from where it had been nestled inside her coat, the warmth of her body keeping it from congealing in the cold, and tugged her right glove off with her teeth. Her hand steady despite the gusts of wind sweeping down from the ice field above, with a few swift strokes she sketched in an alert and lively eye, one on each side of the prow. Squinting and craning her head from side to side, she carefully examined the two for any differences. Then she closed the tin of paint and set it and the brush down in the snow for a moment. 

She crouched in front of the beak of the craft and took her other glove off, placing her bare hands on the nose. She closed her eyes and spoke a chain of Charter marks that trickled out of her throat like icy wind, like the freezing mist of the upper airs, before it passed into the Paperwing's body and brought it shivering to life.

Ralleth opened her eyes and blinked, watching as the painted eyes blinked in turn, turning to regard her, and then the sky. The Paperwing tugged against the ropes holding it down as the wind from the mountaintop picked up, sending a spray of snow against her face. It was time to fly.


End file.
